This post will be a really long one. I just wanted to put into words our wonderful experiences during the trip, so that I could re-live them years from now.
Packing Light
Our trip began on the 19th of May 2011, with a flurry of unpacking and repacking, I had been of the mind that backpacks would be most well suited for such a short journey. I had spent quite some time trying to drill into Tina's head that packing light would be in our best interest. A few weeks earlier, much to my delight, I had successfully put in all our clothes into my newly bought REI Mars 80 backpack. This left us with my standard size backpack to fit in all the extras - the few things Tina might need for toiletries etc. As the last few hours wore down, this backpack started to fill up fast, and despite my negotiations with my wife, it was difficult to leave out any particular thing. Long story short, 5 minutes before Anish was to arrive to drop us to the airport, the bag was looking like a distended tragedy waiting to unfold. We left for the airport with another full sized suitcase into which my backpack regurgitated most of its contents.
American Airlines, or was it Iberia
In my super-meticulous planning, with the determination to keep this trip as cheap as possible, I had booked my flight almost 6 months in advance on the ticket site, vayama.com. I had watched trends in prices for a month or so, researched historical peaks and highs, set up numerous online triggers to send me message, but in all my infinite wisdom, had not checked up on the actual airline I was flying.
I had booked a codeshare flight , and was under the impression that I was flying Iberia. I discovered a few weeks before flying out that I was actually flying American Airlines. This, at the time, did not raise any warning bells, but given my experience, there is now a very very large sub-conscious bell now programmed to go off at any mention of this esteemed airline. 24 hour before the flight I went to the Iberia website to check in, as instructed by my e-ticket. However, there appeared to be no way one could choose a flight on Iberia leaving from San Francisco. So I went to the AA website, which would no longer accept my Iberia reservation code. A few phone calls later, and armed with the AA code, I tried the online check in , just to be told that AA cannot let me do online checkins. Then I called up the Airline and they assure me that I can go to the Airport to get the seat. Fast forward to the next day- drop off my bags at check-in, but I am informed now that the seats will get allocated at the boarding gate.... Fast forward another 30 mins - we are told at the gate that there is no way to allocate seats till the flight is ready to board, and THEN it turns out we have already been allocated seats, but WAIT , not just any seat , the last seats, right next to the toilets and with no option of reclining the seats. To make matters worse, they had no blankets on board, no personal entertainment system, and the screening of the Bieber Movie to keep us entertained. Well, I am certain that the bludgeoning of this airline is a common theme in the travelogues of American flyers, but I end by saying that I do sincerely believe that this will be my last time ever on this airline.
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| At least we got a little liquored up before the horrible flight! |
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